That we may have a more complete view of this duty, let us inquire into,
III. The extent to which it is to be performed —
The law of God is at once the 7'ule and measure of our duty —
[The law is a perfect transcript of the mind and will of God. It was originally written upon the heart of man : and man's perfect conformity to it constituted that image of God in which he was created. To have these dispositions restored, and thereby to regain that image, is the object which we are taught to aspire after with incessant ardour. God has pro- mised to his people that they shall be " renewed after his image in righteousness and true holiness :" and of that promise we must seek the full accomplishment. To dream of a confor- mity to God's natural perfections, were folly and madness : we cannot possibly be omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent : but his moral perfections we may and miist attain : nor ought we to be satisfied with any precise measure of them ; we should never think we have attained any thing whilst any thing remains to be attained.]
To a perfect conformity to that law we must be ever pressing forward —
[This was St. Paul's mind. After he had preached the Gospel for twenty years, and had attained an eminence of piety which probably none but the Lord Jesus Christ himself ever surpassed, he said, " Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may appre- hend that for which also I am apprehended of God in Christ Jesus P." Nor is this a pursuit proper for Apostles only; it is equally necessary for all. *' Now are we the sons of God," says St. John : " and every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure\" In a word, the model for our imitation is God: nor must we ever stop, till we are " holy as God is holy," and " perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect."]
We cannot contemplate this subject without noticing,
1. What need we have of mercy at the hands of God—
[Let us look back through our whole lives, and see how numberless have been our transgressions against this holy law; and let us look into our own hearts, and see what a proneness
P Phil. iii. 12. q 1 John iii. 2, 3.